They gave me a lot more useful, basic tools for things like asking questions and making things negative. Once I had done a few of the beginners lessons and got to grips with some of the basics I found the grammar course really useful, particularly the ‘building sentences’ lessons. I went through the whole of the beginner level 1 course and part of level 2, but I also dipped into other subjects, like this one, you know, just in case: You can either work through a course of lessons, or try other ad hoc lessons according to why you’re learning. Your learning on Babbel is split up into lessons, which probably take around 10 or 15 minutes each, depending how quickly you go. Sometimes I did an hour, sometimes less, but the time always passed pretty quickly while I was learning. I actually found myself looking forward to it. I was worried that it might feel a bit like a chore – like having homework set that you didn’t want to do – but it really didn’t. The Babbel team recommended that I did around 15-30 minutes every day and I have to admit that initially I thought I might struggle. (I had the idea that it would work a bit like a hypnosis and that if I did it just before going to sleep it would SINK IN without me having to do anything.) You can download lessons to do offline, so I could do twenty minutes on the way to work easily, or do a little bit in bed last thing at night. You can use Babbel on your desktop or via the app, but I did all of my learning through the app as liked the flexibility this gave me. I was a little daunted, but I got stuck in. (I was one of four people taking up the challenge and damn it, I was going to be the best.) How does Babbel work? With the cameras on me, it was revealed that my date was going to be Marco, and off I was sent with a subscription to Babbel and a childlike desire to be star pupil. The fact that my date was Spanish had only been revealed to me three weeks previously in an Oscar ceremony style envelope opening. I mean sure, I’d been secretly hoping that I would end up with French or German, as I studied both of these up to A-level, but Spanish… I’ve watched a bit of Dora the Explorer. Add in the fact that you are being filmed and the whole date has to be conducted in a language that you’ve only been learning for three weeks and the scope for personal embarrassment is massive.įortunately I do not embarrass easily, which is why when language app Babbel set me the challenge a few weeks previously I had been all over it. It wasn’t your normal kind of first date scenario.įirst dates can be pretty nerve wracking at the best of times. On the other side of the plastic curtain a film crew was setting up. ‘Tengo tres gatos,’ I muttered to myself. I felt like I was nine years old again, going into the chilled food aisle at Gateway with my Gran. I pushed my way through the plastic strip curtain covering the door. When you sign up you can choose to do any or all of them.I arrived at the warehouse on the outskirts of London feeling nervous. You can see my Spanish Rocket Language review here.Ĭheck out the screenshots below to see the various Spanish courses that Babbel offers. Rocket Language’s excellent pronunciation feedback loop has been invaluable to me. It made me value Rocket Language’s voice system even more. I found Babbel’s voice system of zero value, except as a way for me to practice patience. So you never know how you actually said the word. But you never hear the recording yourself. Or at least when the computer thinks you did. The microphone turns into a green check when you say the word correctly. (i.e., due to recording error vs pronunciation error) Often asks you to repeat the word – but not why.Unfortunately, the method neither works well or is effective.īabbel’s voice-recognition system has issues. The microphone image in the 1st image above, is your opportunity to speak Spanish. Speak SpanishĪlso, after using Rocket Language’s excellent speaking component, I was very frustrated with Babbel’s. But I wasn’t learning how to construct sentences. I did learn how to read and write some words in both categories. Did I really need to know the words they were choosing to teach me? Helps to cement the new words in your brainĪlso, I never got the sense of where the lessons were taking me. The speak Spanish component is both not at all helpful and very frustratingįilling in the Blanks does help you learn the word better
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